


Candy Land

by cassiexrailly



Category: Yellowstone (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:32:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26819602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiexrailly/pseuds/cassiexrailly
Summary: Family is everything around the holidays. Even more so on a ranch where family is all you can count on, brand or blood, or not. Oh, and dinner and candy apples, too...A part of #Hauntober on tumblr | Week 1 Day 4 | Prompt: Candy Apples
Relationships: Kayce Dutton/Cara Mason(Dutton), Kayce Dutton/OC, Teeter/Colby
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Candy Land

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy this cute little one-shot from a collection of them i'll be posting for #Hauntober on tumblr!!

As it got closer to Halloween, there was more and more to do on the ranch. As autumn pressed on into winter, things in the fields and certain chores for the animals had to be done in a timely manner. Kayce was out at the office doing Livestock Commissioner things, so it was on Rip and the rest of the bunkhouse to make do on the ranch with those responsibilities. Inside the big house, and around the other homes on the property, it was up to Cara to make them feel warm and decorate them so they were seasonally appropriate. She was up before daybreak, as was usual for a woman making a home on an operational ranch. She watched as Kayce got ready for the day and left with a kiss and an ‘I love you.’ She watched as the lights went off on the barn and the bunkhouse in the early morning light and the lights inside came on. That meant Rip and Lloyd were getting the rest of them up and at ‘em.

It was around 7am when the back door into the kitchen came swinging open and Rip walked in, followed closely by Lloyd. Both took their hats off and stomped and kicked their boots off of the mud and dust by the door. “Mornin’ Chief.” Lloyd purred in his old man’s gruff but smooth baritone.

“Mornin’ Lloyd. Rip.” She nods to both of them, all smiles. “Did ya boys have ‘nough coffee? I got more’n the pot…”

“We had ‘nough fer right now, Chief, thank you.” Rip nods once back, smiling tightly to her.

“Ya boys gettin’ ready t’head out?”

“Gotta put up the snow breaks on the fencin’ t’day, Chief. Li’l late on it, but…” Lloyd trailed off.

“S’alrigh’.” Cara nods along as she stirs something on the stove. “Yer always busy. Ah’know ah’don’ have t’babysit the both o’ ya.” She smirks. “Ya should both come by the house later ‘round dinner time. Gator don’ know it yet but m’makin’ a big pot o’ veg’table soup an’ a big batch o’ biscuits. Should be more’n ‘nough fer all the boys an’ Teeter if ya can take it on over.”

“Tha’s real nice o’ ya, Chief.” Lloyd and Rip both murmured at the same time. The title they called her by was two fold reverence, respect, and adoration. Cara was the only women involved in the daily day-to-day operations of the ranch and she worked harder than anyone else in the family beside her father and Kayce. Everyone adored her because of it but also, because she didn’t treat them any different than she treated her family. Everyone was an equal to her. Not less than. Not merely an employee she used and paid.

“Well, now, gotta take care o’ ya boys, an’ m’girl, Teeter.” She beams. “Keep ya warm after a col’ day’n that damp muck ou’ there. Y’all take care.”

“Thank ya, Chief.”

They were about to leave when she turned and stopped them. “Hey… Secon’ thought…” She leaned against the doorframe as they stood on the back stoop. “If ya wanna, m’gonna have Tate makin’ some car’mel an’ candied apples with me later. Yer all welcome t’stop by an’ help ‘er…hinder, too, if ya like.” She had a big smile on her face that said she was the Mother Hen, and she wanted all her family around her, not just the immediate and not just the blood.

The looks both men exchanged said they wouldn’t be caught dead with an aproned woman and kid in the biggest kitchen on the ranch making anything, let alone something candied, but they both shrugged, tipped the hats they put back on, and mumbled their thanks. “I’ll let the boys an’ Teeter know.” Rip replied before they both swaggered away.

● ● ●

“Naw fuck’n’ way…” Teeter’s accent was something wholly different than any of theirs. She slurred like she was drunk as a skunk and half of them couldn’t even make out what she was saying two-thirds of the time. “Ah’ain’ be’n caugh’ dead’n’a damn ap’ron…cut’n’up apples’n dip’n fuck’n nut’n n’damn candy.”

Colby and Ryan looked at each other as they worked alongside her on the snow breaks that helped save the integrity of the fences over the course of the winter. Ryan shook his head and started to laugh as he looked down at what he was doing again. “She’s yer girlfriend.”

Colby smacked Ryan’s shoulder hard with his gloved hand. “She’s not! Man… Damn!”

“S’okay, baby…” Teeter grins, spitting tobacco juice into the field past her shoulder from the dip she had stuck in her cheek. “Mumma’s ready when’ver you ready… Ah’ll d’ya righ’ an’ d’ya s’good you gon’keep nut’n baby…”

Ryan cackled so damn hard he doubled over and had to clutch the fence in both his hands for support, his legs nearly buckling with how hard he was shaking laughing. Colby looked shocked as Hell and looked from Teeter to Ryan. “Shut the Hell up! Don’t encourage her!”

Rip raised his voice and yelled over all of them. “If you ain’t got that length o’ fence done’n two more minutes yer gonna have to fuckin’ answer t’me! Now, all o’ you shut the fuck up b’fore yer all shittin’ yer fuckin’ teeth! Don’ need teeth t’work with yer fuckin’ hands!”

“Don’ need n’teeth t’suck yer cock like a filthy fuck’n wom’n neither…” Teeter spoke softly instead of whispering. Whispering carried and soft speaking was low enough to make it so only Colby and Ryan heard her. She made sucking noises and her tongue poked at her cheek from the inside. “Nice smooth gum’job, baby, tha’ what you like…”

“Oh my God…” Colby whined.

“God ain’ gon’help ya, baby.”

“What did I fuckin’ say!” Rip yelled louder, still.

● ● ●

It was almost sundown by the time the caramel sauce and the candy sauce was ready for the apples to be dipped into them. The soup had been boiling since long before brunch time and sat simmering low on the back burners in two huge stock pots, waiting to serve. The bunkhouse didn’t eat until all the work was done and they didn’t start coming in until the sun was already past the tree line. Tate sat behind Cara at the island, where she’d sat across from Rip about a month ago as he took care of her on one of her worst days. He watched his step-mom move around and check on everything, constantly stirring.

“Is my dad gonna be home for this?” He asked her, his butt raising up off the seat of the stool at the island counter, his arms on the countertop supporting his weight. “I wanna see him dip apples in candy sauce!” He giggles like little boys do. “He’s probably terrible at it!”

“Ah’hope so, Tate. Ah’was hopin’ he’d be home’n time fer supper, too.” She commented back.

Not three minutes later the back door opened and Kayce came in, immediately beaming at his little family. “M’home!”

“Dad!” Tate keened, not leaving his perch at the counter though.

“We were jus’ wonderin’ ‘bout ya.” Cara said, smiling with pride and happiness at him over her shoulder.

Kayce came up to the island counter, put his cowboy hat on Tate’s head making the boy laugh, and then went straight for his pregnant wife to be. “Missin’ me, Misses?” He grinned like a damn love struck fool and kissed her on the mouth right in full view of anyone who dared be present.

She chuckled lightly into the kiss and wrapped an arm around his neck until her hand cupped the back of his neck and her fingers played in the shorter still longish hairs at the base of his skull. It was a wet passionate ‘missed you all day’ kiss and it did something to her insides, making her hot and squishy in all the right places. When he pulled back from her their noses nudged together from side to side in an Eskimo kiss. “Ya damn righ’…” She grinned all over again which made Kayce grin wide, too.

“EW!” Tate broke the silence that settled between them and both adults snickered at the outburst.

“What’re we doin’ here, baby? Looks good. Smells better…” Kayce lifted the cover on one of the pots on the back burners and almost moaned softly, nearly inaudible.

“That ain’t fer ya, right now.” Cara chastised him, swatting his hand lightly with the back of the clean wooden spoon. “Ya don’ get fed ‘til the bunkhouse gets theirs.”

“Since when!?” Kayce looked at her with his brows furrowed.

“Since Chief said so.” Tate replied before Cara even had a chance. “She made some for everybody today.”

Kayce harrumphed softly before giving his little lady the fisheye. “Everybody, huh? Those mama hormones mus’ really be goin’…” He was teasing her.

“Anyways, yer son said he wants t’see ya do these car’mel an’ candied apples with me.” She changed the topic before Kayce got himself into too much trouble that he couldn’t walk back.

“Yeah! And I said I bet you suck at it!”

Kayce raised a brow and gave his son an incredulous look. He screwed up his mouth and had to keep from swearing when he replied. “The Hell’re you teachin’ my son, baby?” He grinned as he put it to Cara, clearly kidding again.

“Ain’t been teachin’ yer son t’put ya through yer paces, baby. Ya do that all on yer own… An’ maybe there’s some o’ Rip’n there, too…” She chuckled. “Ya gonna help me ‘er no’?”

Tate grinned. “Yeah, dad, are you gonna help or not!?”

Fifteen minutes later Kayce and Tate Dutton had more caramel and candy on them than they had on the apples. Only five apples were done and setting up on the tray on the island. “Don’t do it like that!” Tate was instructing his father. “That’s how the apples keep coming off the sticks and then we gotta go in and scoop ‘em out with the ladle!” The boy rolls his eyes as the apple falls off into the caramel and goes swimming. “See!? God! I give up on you. I can’t teach you!”

Cara was chuckling softly in the background, stirring the soup as she saw the line of bunkhouse employees, of the extended family, coming directly to the house to get dinner. Kayce’s fingers, sticky with caramel, grab at Tate’s face and the boy keens loudly, ducking away from his father and right under Rip’s arm as he comes in the back door, the rest of the bunkhouse waiting outside. “I came t’get the supper ya s’kindly offered.” His smile was small and tight but soft, too.

Cara turned around and jerked her chin. “Well, ya can help me with the pots if ya like, but we’re eatin’ t’gether t’night.” Kayce gave her a look and Tate perked up from his spot next to the door where Teeter was peaking inside. “Outside at dusk, couple o’ fires goin’, an’ ya all can have an apple fer later. Jus’ gotta r’member t’let ‘em set up a bit firs’.” She looks from Kayce to Tate. “Ah’had a couple chil’ren helpin’ me…”

Kayce pouted. “Hey…” He feigned pity for himself.

Everybody had laughed at that, Kayce and Tate included, before they all moved the party outside. They ate and they talked and those that could drink had beers and whiskey and laughed some more. Tate disappeared halfway through, just after he was gone eating his soup and biscuits.

“Where did my son get off to.” Kayce asked, leaning into Cara’s space and kissing her shoulder a few times. Small kisses, one right after the other, his eyes closing as he did each one as if saying a small prayer to keep her forever.

“Ah’don’ know, baby. He’s gotta be ‘round…”

Colby and Ryan looked around suddenly, too. “Where’s Teeter?” Colby commented. He looked surprised he hadn’t realized she was gone with how often she hounded him about having sex with her.

“Holy shit…” Cara swore. “If she’s off with…”

“Look’it wha’ we wrangled up’n the house!” Teeter’s thick accent came around the corner with a platter full of finished caramel and candied apples. “Found the li’l man’n’ there, too. Was really makin’ a mess…” She snorted a laugh and not too far behind her was Tate bringing up the rear with another platter full of apples. All done.

“I finished them!” He announces proudly, settling the platter he held down next to the one Teeter had brought. “Happy early Halloween everybody! Don’t forget to get one before you leave the table! Chief’s orders!”

Cara looked prouder than she ever had before and that was saying something. Kayce did, too. “You did this, kiddo?”

“With some help. Teeter’s not lying. I made a MESS!” He emphasized. “But I’ll help Chief clean, I promise.”

“Well, then…” Lloyd smiled, offering a toast up to everyone. “Happy early Halloween, everybody!”


End file.
